[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

uh-oh anacharis



Hello. I'm very much a beginner at this and have some anacharis, two 
cryptocornes and ... something else. Don't remember what. The anacharis is
having problems, but the others seem to be doing well. Populating my
29-gallon tank are a herd of white cloud mountain minnows, three celebes
rainbowfish, a pearl gourami, a red dwarf neon gourami, three little cories
and a flying fox. Plus a mystery snail and gobs of baby mystery snails
(40+).

Here's my problem: The anacharis is consistently developing little brown
spots which then grow and rot away, breaking the plant off at the stem. The
leaves have generally kept their strong green coloring, except for those
pieces that are only an inch or two long. Any shoots from the plants have
remained strong and not developed the decaying brown spots. Some have grown
fairly well. But all of the original batch seems to be getting the brown
spots. I separated the bunch out to have individual sprigs here and there
about my tank. At first, I figured it might be problems with individual
plants, but it has inevitably spread to just about all of them. My one
remaining full-length plant (with a very healthy shoot) is now developing a
very light brown spot on its stem.

I don't have any testing kits, but the water here is fairly hard and
notorious for sulphur. The lighting I have is a 20-watt bulb which I leave
on generally 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Temperature ranges from about 74-78 F under
normal circumstances. I recently added some Black Water Extract from Tetra
and some Tetra FloraPride (about a week ago) to negligible effect. Here are
my thoughts about what may be going on:

1 - Not enough light. This is my number one concern. The hood I have holds a
24-inch bulb. These only come in a 20W variety, right? If I needed to add
light, how would I go about doing so? Would I have to buy a new hood? Is it
possible or likely that a plant-growth bulb would do the trick? After
reading around a little, it seems that my lighting is inadequate (in
wattage) for much plant growth. Is there any resource on the net or from a
book that gives general W/gal lighting requirements for plants?

2 - Anacharis should be bunched. Under this scenario, I just screwed up by
making the plants free-standing. I don't know much about the plant, except
that it seems relatively common. A possibility?

3 - Some required nutrient for anacharis is missing in my tank. I'm doubtful
about this one, but who knows.

4 - Snails. The brown spots just look like the plant starts to turn brown,
without any other visible damage (nibbling) to the stem. Would any damage to
the stem caused by snails (or fish) that would cause this necessarily be
visible?

I know anacharis is a rather plain-jane plant, but I like the buggers, and I
really want them to be strong plants. Help, please! Thanks in advance ....

-Nathan Wittmaier
Warrensburg, MO